Modern Manna

Modern Manna

"I must now give to my brethren the instruction that the Lord has given me in regard to the health food question. By many the health foods are looked upon as of man's devising, but they are of God's originating, as a blessing to his people.... The light that God has given and will continue to give on the food question is to be to His people today what the manna was to the children of Israel. The manna fell from heaven, and the people were told to gather it, and prepare it to be eaten. So in the different countries of the world, light will be given to the Lord's people, and health foods suited to these countries will be prepared." --Ellen White, Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 269.

Suzanne

One thing is certain in my mind: "Ezekiel bread" is no "bread from heaven." It is not a health-food. After America popularized it, it has spread to other parts of the world, including some of Asia. It becomes difficult to find a truly healthful bread on account of it.

Here in Asia, whole wheat bread is nearly non-existent. Wheat is imported, I suppose, and more often than not, it seems that it's the white flour that is imported instead. (Most bakeries here don't produce health foods, and the ones that are health-conscious tend to produce all these multi-grain breads that people suppose to be healthful.)

The Chinese version of yeast-raised white-rice breads aren't any more nutritious than rice noodles I suppose. If you really want healthful foods over here, it's back to the typical Asian fare: rice with steamed vegetables.

It would be nice to have some genuine manna.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

What is wrong with"Ezekiel bread"? It has been a long time since I had any! I love sprouted grain bread!

Crater,

Read Ezekiel chapter 4 and then tell me what Ezekiel bread represents.

After that, read Mrs. White's counsel on simple meals and think about what kind of conglomeration a 12-grain bread is and whether or not it meets the definition.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

My experience of Asian cuisine is that it is almost impossible to find bread which is not so sweet that it would go as cake at home. In fact, what the Chinese call bread is just sweet cake.

My personal opinion is that the best bread is made of rye.

The bread of Ezekiel 4 seems to represent either the scarcity of wartime or the scarcity of exile second class citizenship.

"The diet appointed man in the beginning did not include animal food. Not till after the Flood, when every green thing on the earth had been destroyed, did man receive permission to eat flesh.

"In choosing man's food in Eden, the Lord showed what was the best diet; in the choice made for Israel He taught the same lesson. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt and undertook their training that they might be a people for his own possession. Through them He desired to bless and teach the world. He provided them with the food best adapted for this purpose, not flesh, but manna, 'the bread of heaven.' It was only because of their discontent and their murmuring for the fleshpots of Egypt that animal food was granted them, and this only for a short time. Its use brought disease and death to thousands. Yet the restriction to a nonflesh diet was never heartily accepted. It continued to be the cause of discontent and murmuring, open or secret, and it was not made permanent...." --Ellen White, Ministry of Healing, p. 311.

Suzanne

"The state of the mind has largely to do with the health of the body, and especially with the health of the digestive organs. As a general thing, the Lord did not provide His people with flesh meat in the desert, because He kinew that the use of this diet would create disease and insubordination. In order to modify the disposition, and bring the higher powers of the mind into active exercise, He removed from them the flesh of dead animals. He gave them angels' food, manna from heaven." --Ellen White, 1BC:1112-3.

Suzanne

Do you really think there is something wrong with combining 12 grains? It isn't like combining, 12 different kinds of foods....it is like combining 12 different kinds of apples, or 12 different kinds of grapes.... I don't think that is a bad idea from what I read... I always thought that Ezekiel Bread was really healthy.... Are you mainly against it because there are so many different grains in it?

Tammy,

Good questions, all of them. Adventists have been brought up in the tradition of thinking that Ezekiel bread is healthful and desirable. It is never easy to unlearn one's traditions, even misguided ones.

Reading Ezekiel 4 carefully, one finds the following facts:

1) The bread [Ezekiel bread] was given to Ezekiel in rationed amounts, to represent scarcity and famine.

2) The bread had six different ingredients. They were not all grains. The list includes: "wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches." Looking up that last word online yielded the following definition: "the rendering of the Hebrew ketsah, without doubt the Nigella sativa, a small annual of the order Ranunculacece, which grows wild in the Mediterranean countries, and is cultivated in Egypt and Syria for its seed." Apparently, the Nigella sativa goes under various names such as black cumin, blackseed and black caraway. It is a spice.

3) God asked Ezekiel to "put them in one vessel." This is notable. If there were nothing inherently unusual with such a mixture, this detail would seem unnecessary. But Ezekiel is given explicit instruction to mix them all together.

4) God asked Ezekiel to bake it with human feces. "And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight."

5) God called it defiled bread. "And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them."

6) Ezekiel knew it was defiled bread, and he did not want to eat it! "Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth."

The question in my mind is, "Where have we gotten the idea that Ezekiel bread was a thing to be desired?"

So far from being a recipe for health food, God had given Ezekiel a recipe for "defiled bread."

God bless,

Green Cochoa.